Dike, Sophie and Sallyann ran to the task, the rest of us met at the garden on the corner of Blundell street and Wapping. For a lot of Good Gymers the last time they had seen the garden was in the dark so it was lovely to see it in the beautiful early evening sun with so much in bloom.

Elaine was there to explain what was growing. Ema commented that the garden had the look of a hot climate garden and Elaine said that care had been taken to grow a variety of plants that could survive any climate. She said that the garden also had late bloomers so, when the rest of Liverpool has stopped flowering, the bees can come here for a late season party. There was towering globe artichoke, Fennel, Evening Primrose and lots of Salvia. There was an alpine sea holly that was such a vivid blue, if you’d painted it you’d be told that the colour was too vibrant. There was Jerusalem Sage that had pretty bulbed heads on stalks which apparently turns yellow in late summer. Elaine said that this shrub had spent some time spreading its roots before flowering. Elaine has to decide which plants are taking over the space but she said that now it is more about taking plants out that are getting too prolific rather than planting new ones.

And so, to the job in hand, which pesky plants are we culling this evening? Elaine explained to us that it was the grass that was taking over. She explained it was the flat leaf grass we wanted rid of and other varieties were ornamental and should stay. We set about rooting out this grass and some of us litter picked. The site is right next to a fast food restaurant so litter is a problem. While we were working a young lad went passed on his bike and shouted, ‘because of people like you, the world is a better place!’

This week, we were back on Mulgrave street to help Kahn from Mulgrave Street Action group keep the weeds at bay.

There was one particular bed that was in need of clearing, so we set to work. The main challenge, as always with gardening tasks, was deciding what constitutes a weed... But with clear guidance from Khan we were able to clear space for the plants to flourish and we ended up filling 6 bags full of weeds!

Special shout out goes to Afrah who joined us for the first time and Bekah who completed her 50th task today! Excellent work from both.

It is always a pleasure to work with Mulgrave street Action Group and it is fantastic to see how well the garden is doing! Well done for all your hard work folks - I'm sure next time we will be able to see the results of our efforts in full force!

This week we were back at our favourite secret garden. Tucked away by the railway tracks at Edge Hill train station, this really is a hidden gem, but had become somewhat over grown during winter.

There were several tasks to be getting on with so we split into teams to tackle each: clearing the ivy from the sign and gate, weeding and cutting back to make the path way more accessible and tidying and sorting in the hidden archway. Along the way we found all sorts of treasures - an old bird bath, some mint and lemon balm and even a corkscrew hazel!

With the help of the Metal team we were able to make short work of it and leave the site ready for a tree surgeon to come and cut back some of the heftier plants, in preparation for some upcoming events.

The garden was looking fabulous by the time we left and we cant wait to be back again soon!

This week three goodgymmers ran through the rain to one of our familiar haunts, The Greenhouse Project on Lodge Lane.

We met 7 more goodgymmers there and quickly got to work.

The task this week was cleaning the walls. This might not sound like much, but with a nursery full of budding artists, it was no mean feat. Turns out toothpaste does remove crayon!

Armed with buckets and sponges, we managed to get both rooms and the hallway spick and span - well done to everyone! Special shout out goes to Mo for completing his first task. Lovely to have you on board and hope to see you again soon!

Well done all, hopefully we'll be back at the Greenhouse Project soon to help out with their forest school!

It turns out painting fences in the rain was never going to be a good idea! As we all began to arrive the heavens opened and we made a very quick decision to change the plan, luckily Ema had a feeling this would happen and had brought along the litter picking kits as a plan B!

It was such a down pour that we all agreed a speedy litterpick of the area would be best then home to get warm and dry!

We spread out in both directions of Mulgrave Steet and in 40 minutes 8 of us collected 7 full bags of litter. Soaking wet but satisfied with a job well done we all rushed off home. There's nothing like getting home and putting warm dry pj's on knowing you've done something good for the evening and made a difference. And it was lovely to see the flowers in the community garden loving the rain while we worked.

A huge well done to Vikky for completing her 5th session!